


Panic

by LandonKade



Series: Taakitz Plus One [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Nightmares, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 17:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13769325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LandonKade/pseuds/LandonKade
Summary: Everything is over. Everything ended. Everyone is fine and living their lives. Sometimes, though, war leaves scars no one can see.





	Panic

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place before Sleepover and Taako Is Good Back Here.

The sky roiled, angry and dark, above the Bureau of Balance. There was screaming. Shouts for help as everyone was trying to evacuate the Bureau before it could fall from the sky… The shadows appeared then, sweeping across the once pristine surfaces of a place that had once meant safety. A place that had been the closest thing to home before he had met Kravitz, the home of his first date with Kravitz. Bad memories, good memories, memories he had held onto before he had remembered a hundred years more. 

The pillars of darkness struck without warning, and more screaming followed suit. Sobs for loved ones echoed in Taako’s ears as he ran, his eyes darting this way and that in the hopes he would catch a glimpse of an important face. He didn’t run long. Merle stumbled around the corner of a building, bloody and clutching his ribs as he reached for Taako. Taako reached for him, too, shouting wordlessly to his cleric to come to him even as he altered his course and ran for the dwarf. 

Before Merle could take another step, shadows reached out and took hold of him. He struggled. Merle struggled so hard. Long enough for Taako to reach him. He grabbed hold of Merle’s reaching, mortal hand. His dominant one, his tree arm, had been holding his ribs, was engulfed in shadows now. Taako pulled, strained as he refused to let go… But it was meaningless. Taako wasn’t strong enough. 

The shadows took Merle, stole him away into the wall and left Taako banging against it until his hands were bloody. More wordless screaming. Everyone else could shout themselves hoarse, but why couldn’t he? Why couldn’t he call out for anyone? To anyone?

A strong hand took hold of Taako’s shoulder and yanked him away from the building as another pillar of darkness struck it right where Taako had been standing. When Taako turned, Magnus stood over him, axe in hand and surveying the area for only a moment before he took off at a run and left Taako there. Taako followed, screaming at the top of his lungs and as hard as he could until his face became a deep red, desperate for Magnus to hear him, to stop running from him. Nothing. No sound. Not a word. 

When Magnus finally did stop ahead of him, it was only to stare down at his feet. It wasn’t until Taako stopped beside him that he knew what the man was looking at. Lucretia and Davenport, still and unblinking, lay at their feet. Magnus began to kneel to be sure because they had to be sure. They had to be certain they weren’t leaving any members of their family behind. Lucretia couldn’t make up her deeds against Taako and the others if she were dead. She couldn’t be dead...

Explosions devastated the moon base, all fire and noise. Taako and Magnus were thrown backward as if a train had charged into them to knock them away from the bodies of their friends, their family. As the smoke slowly cleared, Taako pushed himself up, brushing debris off of his shoulder and coughing as he looked for Magnus, desperate to find him; he had to find him. He found him.

Not ten feet away, Magnus lay still, skin burned as though a bomb had gone off directly in his face and almost unrecognizable with the damage done. A choked sob left Taako’s throat, the first sound he had been able to make as he reached for Magnus, wanting with all his might for him to still be alive even as he mentally ran through every spell that he knew, searching for one, just one, that could help, that could do anything useful. 

Then he saw movement in the distance. A small figure running in his direction. A figure he recognized. Taako shoved himself to his feet and took off at a run. He ran hard. His lungs burned, but, no matter how hard he ran toward Angus, he couldn’t seem to get any closer. Silently, Taako screamed Angus’ name, pleaded with Pan and every god he knew to let him reach the boy. 

A tear appeared in the material plane beside Angus. For a moment, a split second of thought, Taako felt relief as he watched Kravitz appear through the tear. The relief at the sight was quickly swallowed by panic. Shadows danced around his boys, closing in on them slowly and yet too quickly for Taako’s tastes. He reached for his Umbra Staff and found nothing. Nothing. He could do nothing but run and pray and hope.

Just as the shadows clutched at Kravitz and Angus’ feet, Taako made it to them, grabbed them, tried so hard to pull them free and refused to let go. Lup and Barry appeared on either side of him as Angus was vanishing into the shadows that grabbed at the small boy’s shoulders. Barry grabbed for the boy detective. It seemed like he might win the match of tug of war until he was unceremoniously yanked downward, his arms elbow-deep in shadow and darkness that churned like a black sea of nothing. Barry vanished after Angus. Neither resurfaced. 

The desperate scream that tore from Lup’s throat as she realized Barry was gone shattered Taako, and, had Kravitz not been sinking with Taako firmly holding onto his arms, Taako would have gone to his sister, comforted her. Now wasn’t the time, however. The twins pulled, slowed the process of the sinking, knowing they were all that was left, tears streaming down Lup’s face as she kept glancing into the pool of darkness that had swallowed Barry whole. 

An unseen force yanked Lup off of her feet and off the edge of the moon base before Taako could even register that his sister had vanished from beside him. She screamed Taako’s name, screamed for his help, and Taako couldn’t go to her. He couldn’t save her. He had no magic, and he couldn’t do anything. He was useless. 

Useless or not, though, Taako refused to let go of Kravitz. He held him tight, digging his heels into the floor and trying his damnedest to get a better grip on Kravitz, but Taako couldn’t. His grip kept slipping. A force hit Taako square in the chest that knocked him back five feet and prone so suddenly that it took a split second for Taako to realize he wasn’t holding Kravitz anymore. He sat up, heart in his throat, looked into the depths of the shadows that had taken Angus, Barry, and now Kravitz...

Taako screamed. 

The elven wizard opened his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs. Taako was no longer silent. He screamed himself hoarse, gasping for air when he ran out of it and shoved himself up in bed, clutching hard at his blankets and looking around his bedroom as if unsure where he was for a few, long seconds. He was alone. He was alone, and covered in sweat, and, for a brief, terrifying moment, the faces of his loved ones flashed across his vision, dead or taken from him by The Hunger and its shadows. 

A loud, mournful sob shook him. Taako buried his face in his hands. It wasn’t real... It wasn’t real... It wasn’t real... Taako tried to breathe and couldn’t. He saw Lup’s face. First when Barry was lost, the devastation and heartbreak and tears and loss. Then, when she was thrown off of the moon base, shock and fear as she pleaded with Taako to save her. Lucretia and Davenport already dead before he could find them. Merle, swallowed by shadows. Magnus rushing in and paying the ultimate price for it. Angus caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, expecting Taako to protect him… Kravitz coming to the rescue only to need rescuing and not getting it… Kravitz…

All but throwing himself out of bed, Taako found his Stone of Far Speech on his dresser. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat once, twice, several times, but it was adamant about remaining where it was even as Taako spoke into the stone, quietly at first. “Kravitz? Babe, are you there? Can you answer me?” 

“Taako? What’s wrong?” There was concern in his voice, and Taako felt guilty instantly. It was still the middle of the night. Kravitz was working. He didn’t need to be worrying about Taako and his bad dreams. 

The image of Kravitz being taken by the shadows forced itself to the forefront of Taako’s mind, and he quickly squeezed his eyes shut. He had just heard Kravitz speak. He was fine. There was nothing to worry about. “I… It’s nothing… I just… I was just checking in.” Taako stopped, muffled another sob into his hand and took a breath before he could give himself away. 

“Taako?” 

“Nevermind.” Taako spoke too quickly, tried and failed again to swallow the lump in his throat. “It’s stupid. Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you when you get home, yeah?” Before Kravitz could say anything else, Taako deactivated his stone and buried his face in his hands again. He was stupid. He was so fucking stupid. It had been a nightmare. Just a stupid, fucking nightmare, and, here he was, calling Kravitz in the middle of the night and scaring the shit out of him. Kravitz surely had better things to be concerned about than whether or not Taako could be left alone for ten minutes.

The tell tale sizzle of magic behind Taako made him look up. He found Kravitz there. He wasn’t sure why he was even surprised. He had sounded crazy in that call. Of course Kravitz would want to check on him. As much as Taako hated himself in that moment for scaring his new husband, seeing Kravitz alive and well, if a little worried, in front of him made relief swell in his chest, and that relief manifested in more tears and another choked sob that made Kravitz rush forward and wrap his arms around Taako. 

“Taako, what happened? Why are you upset?” Kravitz had never seen Taako cry, much less like this; as though his heart had shattered and his world had broken into pieces. 

With his own arms wrapping tightly around Kravitz as he buried his nose against his shoulder, Taako shook his head, trying to stop crying, to breathe properly so he could explain himself like a civilized person, but it was all to no avail. It took a few more long moments of breathless sobs into Kravitz’s shoulder before Taako could muster up any ability to sound coherent. “I… It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare...” 

“This doesn’t seem like just a nightmare, love. Do you want to try to tell me about it?” 

“It seemed so real.” Taako choked out the response as Kravitz finished his question, and Kravitz couldn’t help but to tighten his hold around Taako, a hand buried in his hair as he pressed a kiss to Taako’s temple. Kravitz waited patiently after that, waiting to see whether or not Taako would continue. He did. “I saw the Hunger… Its shadows and darkness... I saw everyone. Taken or slaughtered... It felt so real...” Another sob escaped Taako and Kravitz shushed him gently. 

“It wasn’t real. You’re safe. I’m safe. Everyone is safe.” Kravitz gently stroked Taako’s hair and, despite his encouragements, he didn’t move away from Taako or tell him to stop crying because, in the end, he really seemed as though he needed the outlet. “I imagine everyone else is asleep just now but we can visit them in the morning. Lup and Barry are covering for me and can’t come right now, but I can stay, and they can visit later.” 

“Are you sure?” Taako couldn’t bring himself to tell Kravitz he didn’t have to. In the end, he desperately wanted him to stay, and he tightened his hold around Kravitz as the thought entered his mind.

“I’m sure. Now, let’s get you back into bed.” With a little coercing, Kravitz was able to lead Taako back into their bed, but Taako didn’t relax until he had crawled on top of Kravitz and made himself comfortable there, as though the weight of his body could keep Kravitz firmly in place and unable to move. It wasn’t much longer before Taako fell asleep again. This time, he rested quietly and, as far as Kravitz could tell, contently. Kravitz had to thank the gods for that.


End file.
